This is Biscotti the Leopard Ray.. a somewhat fanciful interpretation of an otherwise much more elegant creature. 🙂 Biscotti is made up of chicken wire, Sculpey clay, acrylic paint, and two free ebony buttons from the Beadery on Queen St.
The following cartoon accompanied the print version of Brian Kings’s article “The Prisoner’s Dilemma and The Evolution Of Morality” (Philosophy Now, Issue 109). In this article, the writer explores the evolution of morality through game theory, specifically: The Prisoner’s Dilemma. This is a game that you “win” by getting the lowest number of years in jail. The outcome depends on whether or not you decide to rat out your partner in crime, thereby exemplifying either selfish or cooperative behaviour. Ideally, both partners would remain silent… ideally.
Feel free to read more about the game and its tenets here, which is summarized in the following image. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prisoner%27s_dilemma
A few days ago I posted a paperclay and wire sculpture in progress, here a few snaps of the finished piece. He’s an indoor AND outdoor cat. 🙂
I also decided to work on another piece that was sitting around. Not too sure what to do with it next exactly, it was more of an initial experiment with chicken wire and Sculpey clay, which one has to bake to set. However, his name is “Biscotti”. Apparently biscotti means twice-baked, which seemed entirely appropriate given I had to cook him twice.
I started this piece last spring and randomly decided to work on it some more today.. it’s made of a combination of tape, metal, and this wonderful sculpture material called paperclay which can be used to give a more textured look.
Here is a side view.
P.S. The tail used to be higher in the air but then a wasp stung me, I knocked it over on the ground during the commotion, and voila, the tail was curved into a new shape. So is that a happy accident out of unhappy one? Still deciding!
My friend and colleague Dale Sood just debuted his filmmaking series on IndieWire today, a 10 part series that focuses on subversive concepts in filmmaking. I created some basic sketches for the first episode with legendary comic book artist and brilliant instructor Ty Templeton – “What Cinematographers can learn from Comic Book Artists“. You can see it here, enjoy!
Ah, summer. With it, glorious sun, heat, growing green things.. and the incessant idling of ice-cream trucks. Maybe I was in a bad mood but the following came to mind after noticing the “watch for children” sign on the truck that circles my block. I’m trying out a few things here, including colour, a brand new scanner (!), and a troubled attempt at perspective, as witnessed by the many eraser marks…
The following cartoon accompanied the print version of Samuel Kaldas’s article Descartes vs. Cudworth on The Moral Worth of Animals (Philosophy Now, Issue 108). In this article, the writer compares two views on the nature of animals and their implications for our moral responsibility towards them. It’s interesting to compare Descartes views – disturbing to many today – to those of his contemporary Cudworth, who held surprisingly modern views for his time. Article link provided below.
https://philosophynow.org/issues/108/Descartes_versus_Cudworth_On_The_Moral_Worth_of_Animals
The following is very loosely based on the recent research in telomeres, aging & disease. I took a bit of a left turn into Greek mythology. Everyone needs more Greek mythology in their life.
The following S&F cartoon was created for The Potent, a Canadian environmental news and media blog. It’s surprisingly difficult to find consistent information about the impact of nanoparticles on human/environmental health, but I wouldn’t be surprised if we read more about them in the future.
In recent weeks I was in discussions with some people regarding possibly illustrating their children’s book. I came up with the following sketches which were rejected for being too “colouring book”. Ouch! The whole process wasn’t exactly the best experience, but at least now I can use the characters for something else. I like the dog. 🙂
simonandfinn 